The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a nozzle plate for an ink-jet printer and more particularly to a method including a single operation in which a plate is first pressed locally into a circular aperture in a pressing die by a pressing and punching tool whose dimensions correspond to the internal dimensions of a nozzle to be formed, and the plate is subsequently punched during further pressing to form the nozzle, using an elastic block as a cushion forming the press mold.
The invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the method.
The method itself as well as the apparatus are known from German Offenlegungsschrift 30 42 483, to which U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,777 corresponds. It has been found that in nozzle plates thus manufactured the quality of the nozzle edges at the exit end depends to a comparatively high degree on the surface structure of the nozzle plate material. For example, during the punching of the plates the nozzle edges thus formed are torned off irregularly, which is inter alia due to excessive expansion of the material of the nozzle plate, thus giving rise to asymmetrical or rough nozzle edges.